Inside The Bills

With the tragic passing of singer Whitney Houston at age 48, a lot of Bills fans called from memory the singer’s stirring national anthem prior to Super Bowl XXV between the Bills and Giants.

Amidst the start of the Gulf War and everyone at the stadium in Tampa decked out in red, white and blue partly due to patriotism and partly due to the fact that both teams wore those colors, Houston’s anthem was in a word magnificent. Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker told Peter Kind for his SI.com Monday Morning QB column what he remembered.

“She hit it out of the park,” he said. “I’m an anthem enthusiast. I like to listen to them and judge them, and there’s never been one like that. I remember looking around when it was over. I looked in the stands and saw fans waving their little American flags with one hand and wiping tears away with the other. I looked over and saw Jim Kelly and Marv [Levy] wiping away tears. And I’m standing right near one of the officials that day, Larry Nemmers — and he’s wiping his eyes. Amazing.”